diff --git a/.idea/.gitignore b/.idea/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 13566b81b018ad684f3a35fee301741b2734c8f4..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# Default ignored files
-/shelf/
-/workspace.xml
-# Editor-based HTTP Client requests
-/httpRequests/
-# Datasource local storage ignored files
-/dataSources/
-/dataSources.local.xml
diff --git a/.idea/inspectionProfiles/Project_Default.xml b/.idea/inspectionProfiles/Project_Default.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 5d8becd669a486480fc8a59decf9b0656b039317..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/inspectionProfiles/Project_Default.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,7 +0,0 @@
-<component name="InspectionProjectProfileManager">
-  <profile version="1.0">
-    <option name="myName" value="Project Default" />
-    <inspection_tool class="Eslint" enabled="true" level="WARNING" enabled_by_default="true" />
-    <inspection_tool class="PyInterpreterInspection" enabled="true" level="INFORMATION" enabled_by_default="true" />
-  </profile>
-</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/inspectionProfiles/profiles_settings.xml b/.idea/inspectionProfiles/profiles_settings.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 105ce2da2d6447d11dfe32bfb846c3d5b199fc99..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/inspectionProfiles/profiles_settings.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-<component name="InspectionProjectProfileManager">
-  <settings>
-    <option name="USE_PROJECT_PROFILE" value="false" />
-    <version value="1.0" />
-  </settings>
-</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/modules.xml b/.idea/modules.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index e7161a1e7fa75fd7cd38b9c832cafd2f00378162..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/modules.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project version="4">
-  <component name="ProjectModuleManager">
-    <modules>
-      <module fileurl="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/systemdev_hrproject.iml" filepath="$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/systemdev_hrproject.iml" />
-    </modules>
-  </component>
-</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/systemdev_hrproject.iml b/.idea/systemdev_hrproject.iml
deleted file mode 100644
index 37512de08fe8c5d5cca096f2c3678d35d0b8f41c..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/systemdev_hrproject.iml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<module type="PYTHON_MODULE" version="4">
-  <component name="NewModuleRootManager">
-    <content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$" />
-    <orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
-    <orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
-  </component>
-  <component name="PyDocumentationSettings">
-    <option name="format" value="PLAIN" />
-    <option name="myDocStringFormat" value="Plain" />
-  </component>
-  <component name="TemplatesService">
-    <option name="TEMPLATE_CONFIGURATION" value="Jinja2" />
-    <option name="TEMPLATE_FOLDERS">
-      <list>
-        <option value="$MODULE_DIR$/app/templates" />
-      </list>
-    </option>
-  </component>
-</module>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.idea/vcs.xml b/.idea/vcs.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 35eb1ddfbbc029bcab630581847471d7f238ec53..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/.idea/vcs.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project version="4">
-  <component name="VcsDirectoryMappings">
-    <mapping directory="" vcs="Git" />
-  </component>
-</project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8cb8c1e6908018f1c8fa2d691906b15da687cffa..80833d196be51afed34e6b8e1c9223c5f68ccabb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
    ```
 
 3. Access the application
-   - The web application will be available at http://localhost:5000
-   - MySQL database will be available at localhost:3306
+   - The web application will be available at 127.0.0.1:5000
+   - MySQL database will be available at 127.0.0.1:3306
 
 ### Docker Environment Variables
 
diff --git a/instance/config_example.py b/instance/config_example.py
index 7af874eae2741b4bab79090d50520cd3f65b1c64..abddbbde71ce52290c766722eba755d8ba5879e3 100644
--- a/instance/config_example.py
+++ b/instance/config_example.py
@@ -1,10 +1,16 @@
+import os
+from urllib.parse import quote_plus
+
+# Get database configuration from environment variables
 DATABASE_CONFIG = {
-    "host": "your_host",  # insert your localhost to your_host
-    "user": "your_user",  # inser your user to your_user
-    "password": "your_password",  # insert your password to your_password
-    # (change @ to %40 if the last character of your password is @)
-    "database": "your_database",  # insert your database to your_database
+    "host": os.environ.get("DB_HOST", "db"),
+    "user": os.environ.get("DB_USER", "hrapp"),
+    "password": os.environ.get("DB_PASSWORD", "changeme_in_production"),
+    "database": os.environ.get("DB_NAME", "hrms"),
+    "port": int(os.environ.get("DB_PORT", 3306)),
 }
 
-DATABASE_URI = f"mysql+pymysql://{DATABASE_CONFIG['user']}:{DATABASE_CONFIG['password']}@{DATABASE_CONFIG['host']}:{DATABASE_CONFIG['port']}/{DATABASE_CONFIG['database']}"
+# Use proper URL encoding for the password
+encoded_password = quote_plus(DATABASE_CONFIG["password"])
+DATABASE_URI = f"mysql+pymysql://{DATABASE_CONFIG['user']}:{encoded_password}@{DATABASE_CONFIG['host']}:{DATABASE_CONFIG['port']}/{DATABASE_CONFIG['database']}"
 SQLALCHEMY_TRACK_MODIFICATIONS = False